Looking for a cheap flight to Disney World in the near future? What if I told you there’s a chance to fly for free, and it’s really not a complicated process. My wife and I just took a trip to Thailand from the US that only cost us $22 for two roundtrip tickets.
Here are some highlights from our trip:
In this article I will be explaining to you how we did this and what steps you need to get your next flight to Disney World for free.
Who should quit reading this article now
- If you don’t have control over your spending.
- If you are unorganized and have problems making payments on time.
- If you don’t enjoy free things.
The Basics
So you’re asking yourself what kind of hoops you’re going to have to jump through or what kind of 5 hour tour you’ll have to attend, but really this is simple. Sign up for a credit card. I know it can be intimidating, but as long as you’re paying your cards right, you’d be crazy to not open one.
Picking the right card is the key. When you open up an account with a credit card you will get a sign up bonus if you spend a certain amount of money in a given timeframe. For instance. Spending $3000.00 with three months of applying for the card. This is called the minimum spend. When you hit the minimum spend, the card issuer will award you with a certain number of points you can spend on travel, cash back, gift cards, etc.
How to reach minimum spend
It may seem like a lot to have to spend $3000.00 in just a few months, but really it adds up quickly. The key is to use your card for everything you normally would already be buying like groceries, gas, and any kind of entertainment. You’ll quickly find you spend more on every day needs than you thought.
Here are some tips to help you meet the minimum spend
Video credits to Wise Fly
I’ve met the minimum spend, now what?
You’ve spent your $3000.00 in 3 months. The card issuer will award you with points to redeem for things like flights, hotel stays, or straight cash. For example, a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred will earn you 60,000 points when you hit the minimum spend.
With Chase Bank, you will get 1% back for each point when redeeming for cash. However, if you redeem for travel you will get 1.25% back.
- Redeeming 60,000 points for cash: 60,000 x 0.01= $600.00
- Reading 60,000 points for travel: 60,000 x 0.0125= $750.00
Clearly, you would be getting more value by using your points on travel. We always recommend going this route.
How these points get you a free flight to Disney World
Photo was resized – Neil Thompson
There are a couple of different ways to redeem your points for travel with a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
- Book directly through the banks travel portal. Chase Bank and many others allow you to book airfare, hotels, and car rentals directly through them in what they call the travel portal. This is a great option when trying to find a flight to Disney World. There are many options when looking for specific departure/return dates and flight times. You also don’t have to pay any taxes or fees, making flight totally free. Read this article by Millionaire Mile Secrets to learn more about the Chase travel portal.
- Transfer points to travel partners. Chase has many travel partners including United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Southwest Airlines and Hyatt to name a few. Click here to see the full list of transfer partners by Credit Donkey. Southwest is a great option for funding a flight to Disney World. You can cancel or change flights at any time with no fee. The points transfer over at a 1-1 ratio. So, if you were to transfer 60,000 Chase points over to Southwest, you’d have 60,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Which credit card is best?
There are tons of options out there depending on what you want to do with your points. Click here for a list of some of the best credit cards by The Points Guy.
For a beginner looking for a flight to Disney World, We highly recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. It is what we got started with. As of right now, you get 60,000 points if you spend $4000.00 in 3 months.
There’s a $95 annual fee, but you could take 10,000 of the points you earn and use that to pay off the fee. If you use your points to schedule a trip to Disney World in that first year and then have no more use for the card, you could call Chase and have a product change. This is very simple and doesn’t hurt your credit. Simply call and tell them you want to product change to a card like the Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Unlimited. These cards have no annual fee.
You’ll want to have a credit score of around 700 or higher. Additionally, it helps to have 1 or 2 other credit cards on in your history.
Low Credit? No Credit? Hakuna Matata, it means no worries.
Photo was resized – Got Credit
If you don’t have much of a credit history or a credit score lower than 700, we recommend applying for a credit card to help build your credit. The card we recommend is the Capital One Platinum Card. There is no annual fee and most everyone gets approved. You won’t earn any kind of rewards, but it will quickly build your credit. This is the card we used to build our credit first.
ALWAYS pay bills off on time
Make sure you always pay your bill off in full and on time. You don’t want to have to pay any interest. Use your credit card like it is a debit card. Meaning you pay it off as soon as it goes on your bill. This is so you never forget to pay it on time.
This is just the beginning when it comes to points and miles. There are so many cards out there that offer various rewards for every situation. You just have to find the card that is right for you. If you want to learn more about points and miles we highly recommend checking out The Points Guy, they have some great information on this topic.
Comment below and let us know if any of you guys use points and miles. Have you used your points to book a flight to Disney World? Maybe credit cards are intimidating to you. What are some of your fears when it comes to opening up a new credit card?
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Featured image credits to sigmama
